Azikiwe made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday commenting on a report which stated that racism has cost Black Americans $70 trillion since the start of slavery.
Shawn Rochester, author of "The Black Tax: The Cost of Being Black in America," has quantified the cost of racism in the United States, which he said is $70 trillion since the start of slavery.
In his book, Rochester breaks down how racism and discrimination have cost Black Americans trillions of dollars over the course of several generations, and how discrimination has created the massive racial wealth gap that exists today.
He spoke to Business Insider in September last year about how he came to that figure, citing government-sponsored wealth-building programs such as the Homestead Act and VA loans.
He said, these days, the Black Tax is perpetuated by discrimination — Black people are hired less frequently, paid less, and have less access to wealth-building tools like affordable mortgages.
“This is an interesting formulation on how much wealth has been extracted from African people since the period of enslavement. Rochester then goes on to cite the gross exploitation, discrimination and oppression carried out since legalized slavery ended after 1865,” said Azikiwe.
“His solutions are thoughtful about how to approach some form of reparations for both enslavement and later disenfranchisement through denial of political and economic opportunities,” he told Press TV.
“However, the $70 trillion owed cannot be paid while maintaining the same capitalist economic and social system. Enormous wealth held by the largely white ruling class will have to be expropriated in order to guarantee full equality and the right to self-determination moving forward,” the journalist noted.
“The capacity of the existing status quo to continue an unjust system must be dismantled,” he concluded.
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